


The Strangers

by TheEvilHina



Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blood and Gore, Body Horror, Cannibalism, Established Relationship, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Psychological Torture, Psychological Trauma, Revenge, Torture, Underage Drinking, Unhealthy Relationships, the meat of an until dawn fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-29
Updated: 2016-02-10
Packaged: 2018-04-23 21:46:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4893496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheEvilHina/pseuds/TheEvilHina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They were a legacy, Grover said, the next generation after him to protect people from the mountain, from the Wendigo that lived there. He raised them, fed them, taught them what they needed to know and they didn't ask questions. Didn't ask about where they came from, why they were here, they accepted it because it was all they remembered and all they would ever know.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Feel so old cause I'm older than some of the characters in this game. It's so weird.
> 
> I didn't think about it until I'd already decided on a name that The Strangers is a horror movie. One I've actually watched.

They'd wandered too far; alone, scared, cold and starving. Little boys with only the other for company and warmth that was fast fading every second that the storm blew against their pale flesh. There was a scream and fire and they ran as fast as they could, Chris in front and Josh trailing behind. He said he would watch over him, protect him, friends for life, friends forever. A test now, six years old and running for their lives. 

They fell, their heads hit the frozen ground and they woke up in a dark room hours later. They didn’t know where they were, what was happening, only that the sun had risen and there were dogs starring at them. Not dogs, Chris whispered, wolves, big hulking wolves with graying fur and flashing fangs. They didn’t growl, didn’t move, and just stared at the two boys with golden eyes and fidgeting paws. A sound filled the silence, the grating noise of metal against stone and a stranger sat a ways away, sharpening a machete against his leg. 

The man spoked in a deep rumbling accent, seemingly filling the whole room with his voice even though that wasn’t possible. “You boys were wanderin’ where you shouldn’t of. I warned ‘em, I warned ‘em all about the danger, but sometimes experience is the best teacher. You’ll be stayin’ here from now on, you best get comfortable.” Just like that. The police investigated the stranger, Grover he said, but they never found them. Time passed and they forgot about warm cozy fireplaces and summer beaches. Forgot about little sisters and parents. They slept together in the same bed, behind locked fences during the day and would rise in the night like the Wendigo. They learned how to hunt, to mend clothing, to repair weapons and to survive.

They were a legacy, Grover said, the next generation after him to protect people from the mountain, from the Wendigo that lived there. He raised them, fed them, taught them what they needed to know and they didn't ask questions. Didn't ask about where they came from, why they were here, they accepted it because it was all they remembered and all they would ever know. 

They eventually found comfort in each other under Grover’s unconcerned gaze. By the time they hit puberty their days together took a turn for the romantic, became something other than friends or brothers. They loved and held each other and explored together, finding pleasure when their life was anything but. 

It was easier for Chris to adjust, but Josh had always been sensitive. The mental stuff set in and was noticed by the other two almost immediately, a secret like that impossible to hide in such close quarters. They went to town that week, to resupply clothing and for Josh to be looked over by a doctor, a “friend” of Grover’s. They came back with everything and special pills to ward off whatever was taking hold of Josh, to fight it back. 

It got harder. The Washington’s never fully stayed away, the lodge eventually becoming the number one place for the twin daughters and their friends to vacation at. They kept the wendigo away at night and learned to avoid the voices. They earned their scars, each and every one a life lesson and a badge of honor. Another day survived. 

It all fell apart the night the Makkapitew came.


	2. One Year Ago

A body spilled from the entrance to the cabin and sprinted across the frozen earth with a waterfall of tears springing from her eyes. A shadow followed from behind the trees, spitting fire at the wild beast that stalked the frozen girl in the night. Crying, screaming, piercing noise in the silence of the wind and howls of the kings with their antler crowns. 

Another follows behind her, a body with the same face but different skin. Words screaming from the cabin door, “It was just a prank, Han!” The shadows pull apart, breaking into three, one following the trail of salt water tears, another it’s twin, and the other a beast so foul. 

The snow flies sideways, beating against the girl and pushing her towards the trees. If you listen for their whispers the forest will lead you to the beast, like a sad twisted fairytale dream. The crying one falls to the snow, shivering in thin layers. The twin yells for its other half, doesn’t heed the warning of the fire that licks the trees and melts the snow. The loud and foolish get eaten as many have before. 

Two shadows converge like the twin, but the biggest stays singular as the beast lays eyes on its prey. The twins ran, ran on through the forest with its dark narrow paths to the edge of the world where nothing but darkness lay below, the caves leading to the center of the earth. They cried out and fell, slipping on the snow, betrayed by the old friend they had played with as children. 

The two shadows were revealed, young men shrouded in dark cloaks with glass eyes that reached down. They were too slow. The salty tears betrayed their creator and loosened her one salvation, slipping from her twin and screaming as she fell. The other twin cried like her sister as she was pulled to safety howling grief to the empty sky. 

The mountain craved for more blood; the dreaded Makkapitew, its true emperor, dared to sate the never ending hunger. Fast, it spilled through the fire that the shadow leader let loose and ripped at his weak flesh. The men pulled forth their own weapons, firing at the beast, but not before the leader was driven to the edge.

The Makkapitew danced away, pushing the man, for he was only a man, over the edge to join the frozen girl in her grave. The grief was shared that night as the young men threw their own fire and released the beast soul to the mountain. 

~

Beth was found alone at the edge of a cliff. Traumatized, she was useless to the investigation, unable to speak. To make matters worse, the evidence that would have been left behind in any normal crime scene was washed away by the falling snow the night before. 

The stranger known to have lived on the mountain for many years had disappeared completely, making him their number one suspect. However, like many of the missing person’s cases piling up in the file cabinets of the local police station, the case went cold quickly. And for a year the cabin was empty, but it would not stay so forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Are you ready for normal writing, cause I'm not! It's hard to write in a cohesive manner when I'm using so much imagery, so that's why the first and second parts are so small. Not gonna be a common theme, trust me.


End file.
